Lunch inspires learning. At a continuing education program at UCLA, teachers from a variety of subjects and grade-levels learned that even if their school doesn’t have a vegetable garden on site, food can play an important role in education. Food, says the organizer of the program, provides a personal way to explain abstract concepts to students. Take dolma — grape leaves stuffed with a variety of savory ingredients like rice, meat, dried fruit and spices — as an example. In this Middle Eastern delicacy, you can find lessons on international commerce (the spice trade), botany (how fruit is grown), geography (the movement of the rice cultivation over time), and much, much more. (Los Angeles Times)